Free people, free cities

Menu

According to a Letter of Intent filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Cruz Development Corporation has planned a $47 million mixed-use, mixed-income development in Roxbury. According to the document, they will build 95 apartments in two buildings with 104 parking spaces along Warren Street between Clifford and Waverly Streets, near Dudley Square. Two properties, 270 and 280-290 Warren St and 2-10 Clifford St, are involved.

Both buildings will be mixed-use, with a total of 9,684 square feet of ground floor office space and 3,115 square feet of ground floor retail. Both buildings are anticipated as being four or five stories high.

The developer plans to build in two phases: firstly they will build a 51-unit building of 85,000 square feet on a piece of property on Warren Street owned by the Department of Neighborhood Development and a privately-owned property Cruz will buy on Clifford Street. This building will include the office space, to be occupied by Cruz itself, and 74 parking spaces in a two-level garage. In phase two they will buil a second building of 44 residences and another parking garage of 30 spaces.

It’s a cost per unit of almost $500,000, which is about $100,000 more expensive than most private developments. Since Roxbury already has a fairly large number of car-free households and garage parking can cost up to $90,000 a space, there’s an opportunity for savings — especially since the Letter of Intent boasts about the public transit access for the site.